# Configuring error formatting (Prisma ORM v6) (/docs/orm/v6/prisma-client/setup-and-configuration/error-formatting)

This page explains how to configure the formatting of errors when using Prisma Client.

Location: ORM > v6 > Prisma Client > Setup and Configuration > Configuring error formatting

By default, Prisma Client uses [ANSI escape characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code) to pretty print the error stack and give recommendations on how to fix a problem. While this is very useful when using Prisma Client from the terminal, in contexts like a GraphQL API, you only want the minimal error without any additional formatting.

This page explains how error formatting can be configured with Prisma Client.

## Formatting levels

There are 3 error formatting levels:

1. **Pretty Error** (default): Includes a full stack trace with colors, syntax highlighting of the code and extended error message with a possible solution for the problem.
2. **Colorless Error**: Same as pretty errors, without colors.
3. **Minimal Error**: The raw error message.

In order to configure these different error formatting levels, there are two options:

- Setting the config options via environment variables
- Providing the config options to the `PrismaClient` constructor

## Formatting via environment variables

- [`NO_COLOR`](/guides/reference-6-v6-reference-environment-variables-reference#no_color): If this env var is provided, colors are stripped from the error messages. Therefore you end up with a **colorless error**. The `NO_COLOR` environment variable is a standard described in [the NO\_COLOR specification](https://no-color.org/).
- `NODE_ENV=production`: If the env var `NODE_ENV` is set to `production`, only the **minimal error** will be printed. This allows for easier digestion of logs in production environments.

### Formatting via the `PrismaClient` constructor

Alternatively, use the `PrismaClient` [`errorFormat`](/guides/reference-6-v6-reference-prisma-client-reference#errorformat) parameter to set the error format:

```ts
const prisma = new PrismaClient({
  errorFormat: "pretty",
});
```

## Related pages

- [`Custom model and field names`](/guides/prisma-client-v6-setup-and-configuration-custom-model-and-field-names): Learn how you can decouple the naming of Prisma models from database tables to improve the ergonomics of the generated Prisma Client API.
- [`Database connections`](/guides/prisma-client-v6-setup-and-configuration-databases-connections): Databases connections
- [`Database polyfills`](/guides/prisma-client-v6-setup-and-configuration-database-polyfills): Prisma Client provides features that are not achievable with relational databases. These features are referred to as "polyfills" and explained on this page.
- [`Generating Prisma Client`](/guides/prisma-client-v6-setup-and-configuration-generating-prisma-client): This page explains how to generate Prisma Client. It also provides additional context on the generated client, typical workflows and Node.js configuration.
- [`Instantiating Prisma Client`](/guides/prisma-client-v6-setup-and-configuration-instantiate-prisma-client): How to create and use an instance of PrismaClient in your app.

## Related pages

- [Authentication & Tools](./authentication-tools-index.md)
- [Build](./build-index.md)
- [Changelog](../changelog.md)
- [Concepts](./concepts-index.md)
- [Console commands](./console-commands-index.md)
- [Contract Authoring](./contract-authoring-index.md)
- [Core Concepts](./core-concepts-index.md)
- [Data Modeling](./data-modeling-index.md)
- [Database](./database-index.md)
- [DB commands](./db-commands-index.md)

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